An Honest Question
by luxgloriana
Summary: After the Cleopatra Emerald and the Calloway Canary, the Heist Society crew has had a rough history with rare, colored jewels. Despite that, and the fact that there's another famous blue stone with a treacherous history (and that the very value of diamonds is based upon a corporate conspiracy), Hale can't resist making an investment in a massive blue diamond. Fluffy proposal fic.


**AN: I** **wrote this in about 5 hours because of wine and a picture of a giant, blue diamond ring on Sotheby's website. I don't know why I felt the need to look at Sotheby's website while tipsy, but I did, and this is the result.**

 **I have no excuses for this.**

 **(And for the record, I do plan on posting things for other fandoms eventually, but I guess the Heist Society spirit is with me.)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Katarina Bishop wasn't entirely sure what she was feeling. Now, that wasn't entirely unusual. Emotions have never really her area of expertise—safes and security systems and classical art and jewelry are. Fooling and manipulating other people was another area in which Kat thought she was pretty accomplished.

Understanding her emotions was a definite weakness.

Sure, she's gotten better at it since she was 15, when she was confused about whether or not she belonged in the world to which she was born (she did), confused about the role she played in her family's legacy (she's still in the business of re-stealing things, but when her dad or one of her uncles deigns to ask her for help, well, she can't say no), confused about whether or not she was in love with Hale (she was, and is), and confused about her abilities (see above).

If there's one thing she could say about her developing emotional intelligence, Kat wasn't confused about _why_ she was feeling the way she did.

That part's obvious, from the motley crew of people that had gathered in the manor, to the drinks, the cake, the expensive dress and heels that Kat was wearing that Gabrielle had called _très chic._

It's Hale's 24th birthday.

No, she was confused about _what_ she was feeling. The swirling, churning, mess of emotions that Kat didn't want to unpack. he swirling, churning, mess of emotions that Kat didn't want to unpack. There's plenty of anxiety, a little hope, some terror, some longing, some love, but any further analysis was too dangerous. A precarious pile of misery, one that she would have just ignored all together.

So Kat just tried to forget it all. She tries to take deep breaths, and relish in the cool night air.

The family had, two days prior, completed a major heist at Interpol headquarters in Lyon. Over the past few years, Bobby had slowly worn down Amelia Bennett, corrupting and convincing her that she could not possibly perform the good deeds she wanted to do while operating within a clumsy, bureaucratic entity like Interpol. They used intel provided by Amelia about Interpol's security and organization to cause a distraction, get in, permanently alter the electronic records of the family's misdeeds, steal the physical copies, and get out.

If they reached out to other members of their community and offered to alter their own records in exchange for a nice painting or some money, well. That's business.

After Lyon, they, en masse, retreated to England, to the Hale's country manor. They spent their days reading their records, reminiscing about old jobs, teasing each other about things that they expected to stay under the police's radar, and amusing themselves by seeing just how wrong the police were about their methods and abilities. For Kat, it had been a pleasant few days. Gabrielle had just gotten her first divorce, so she was able to commit her full time to the job. Bobby was happy, even if Kat still wasn't sure how she felt about his relationship with Amelia. Even Uncle Charlie traveled up from his house in the Alps, unable to resist the chance to study the paper and ink used in authentic Interpol documents over the past fifty years.

But now it's Hale, _her Hale's_ , birthday. All of her family had crowded in Hazel Hale's solarium, to dance (badly) and sing (badly) along with the Hales' collection of showtunes, and eat the marvelous hors d'oeuvres and drink the expensive wine and whisky. It was all just a little much.

Kat needed a break.

She wandered out into the quiet and dark of the garden, which was lit by moonlight and light that spilled forth from the house. The quiet of the garden, the scent of the spring flowers, and the moonlight were comforting. And so she found herself next to the statue of Prometheus; and so, it seemed, did Hale.

"Did you sneak away from the party in order to give me my birthday present?"

"Not within full sight of your security cameras." She answered, turning on her heel to face her best friend and boyfriend.

"Maybe I looped the feed." He suggested, stepping closer to Kat, and stepping to a beam of light that streamed forth from one of the upstairs windows. He was slightly flushed—either he was too hot in the solarium, or he'd had more than a few drinks.

Kat laughed.

"Are you that impatient?"

"I'm a greedy man, Katarina."

He stepped closer.

"I think you can wait until we have something a little more than a few panes of glass and some shrubbery separating us from my entire family, including my father."

"Oh, I don't think they'd be surprised. They haven't seen you give me a birthday present in four years, I think they suspect what kind of gift you give me. Amelia does, at the least. She winked when she saw me walk out here."

Kat groaned, and couldn't stop the awkward grimace that pulled at her lips.

"Well, that might have something to do with the fact that, as Gabrielle and I arrived at a certain store together, Amelia was leaving that same store, bags in hand."

Hale laughed twice, and took Kat by the hand.

"Well, congratulations, Kat. I'm thinking about your father, now, and that really dragged down my mood. Might as well just go to sleep in our nightshirts and nightcaps, in our separate beds, now."

He was joking, but there was still something like fondness glimmering in his eyes.

"I promise I'll make it up to you. Later." Kat replied. She stepped closer, so they were pressed together, chest to hip.

"You can start making it up to me now." Hale murmured, in that low, warm tone of voice that always made Kat shiver.

Half laughing, she bit back, "What did I just say about the glass and the shrubbery?"

"Hey, this is going to be a kid friendly moment. Just in case there are any kids wandering around here I don't know about."

"Maybe they're trying to steal that Rafael on the second floor."

"Those aren't kids, those are the Bagshaws."

They giggled together in the moonlight, realizing that they were each a little more tipsy on the moment then they had thought.

"You know you're my best friend, right?" Hale asked, a breath later.

"We've always gotten along well enough."

"And you know I love you, right?"

"I think I figured that one out."

Kat smirked, and if possible, leaned even closer into Hale. He opened his mouth to continue just as a sharp breeze blew through the garden, bringing with the it the smell of hyacinths. Kat shivered, again, and Hale looked a little disappointed in himself as he remembered he wasn't wearing a coat or jacket he could give her.

"You know, I love you even if you're always cold, and too stubborn to take a sweater, or a coat with you when you run off to hide. And don't try to argue otherwise, Miss Bishop, there is far too much evidence against you."

She didn't argue. Instead, she swatted at his shoulder, which he brushed off with a laugh. But there was something off about his laugh. Kat realized, perhaps a moment too late, that it was Hale's _I'm lying_ laugh. But before she'd had the chance to ask, he'd started to speak again.

"There's something you taught me, years ago, before I did my first job as an inside man—never ask a question where the answer is _no._ But for two people who are masters at the arts of lying and deception, I think we've gotten pretty good at being honest with each other. Which is why I'm being honest and I'm telling you that, what I really want for my birthday, is for you to answer a question."

Kat had a surreal moment where she thought she was getting taller. Dizzy as she was in the moonlight, it took her three whole seconds to realize that she hadn't moved at all. She actually wasn't sure if she was capable of moving at that moment, because she felt like her mind had deserted her own body.

Minutes ago, she had been nervous and anxious and panicked, and now she just felt. Fuzzy.

Because Hale was kneeling in front of her. He was probably ruining his pants by kneeling on the wet cobblestone walkway, some silly little voice in the back of her mind thought, but she couldn't really think about that for long, because he was still holding her hand, his thumb was still brushing, featherlight, over her knuckles, and he was looking at her the way he looks at her when they wake up in the same bed in the morning, silly and warm and oblivious to anything other than her.

For the most fleeting of moments, Kat wanted to scream as loud as she possibly could, because she knew, knew what Hale was going to say before he could even open his mouth. But somewhere between her lungs and her voice and her mouth and her brain, communication failed, because as Hale asked, "Will you marry me?" she _squeaked_.

She actually _squeaked._

Kat needed a moment to process the fact that she had just _squeaked_ , and also, that Hale had just asked her to marry him, and she really wasn't really in control of herself, because, of all the things she could say, the words "are you serious?" slipped past her lips.

There was no bite to her voice, though, and Hale answered with a smile, saying, "Yes, completely. Serious enough to have bought this."

He reached into the breast pocket of his shirt, the one monogramed with his initials, and pulled out what was possibly the largest diamond ring Kat had maybe ever seen.

And he hadn't kept it in a box, because every member of the family would have seen the impression of a ring box in his pocket and would have circled like sharks in the open ocean. _Clever man_.

"Hale, that's ten carats."

He smirked.

"Actually, it's nine and three quarters, but it is dark, so I'll let it slide. It's a nine and three quarters carat, emerald cut, ethically sourced, highest quality blue diamond, set in a platinum band, surrounded by an additional two carats of round cut, clear diamonds. I designed it myself."

"That's enormous."

"Well, as a part of the De Beers Diamond Company's strategy to create an artificial scarcity and cultural value for their diamonds, I am supposed to spend three month's income on a ring, so… I did. "

"Hale."

"I've also bought several smaller, more practical rings that you can wear on normal occasions, but I wanted to give you something incredible, because you're incredible. I wanted you to remember this."

"Hale."

"I know you've been worried about our future. I have a year until I take control of my shares of Hale Industries. We've been talking about the possibilities for years, but we haven't made a plan. As we make that plan, Kat, I want you to know that nothing, not my grandmother's company or the thrill of the heist, is more important to me than you are. I want your family and mine to know that as well."

"Hale."

"Irina once told me about how your parents had a surprise wedding. That sounded like something that would suit us, so I thought we could plan something similar, something simple, for the end of June, maybe on the anniversary of when you tried to steal my favorite Monet. That would give us enough time for a world tour of a honeymoon, if that's what you want. Or, well, maybe we should just stay in once place for a long time, because we do travel a lot, so we—"

"Sure."

Hale froze. His hand, still holding Kat's, squeezed.

"What?"

"Why not?"

"Did you—I mean—what?"

"Hale, darling, I said yes."

Again, Kat wasn't entirely certain if she was in control of her body or of the things she could say, but as every thief knows, there's something to be said for instinct.

Hale smiled. Slowly, he slipped the massive ring onto her left hand, and somehow, it fit perfectly. And then Hale sprang up, and, wrapping his arms around her waist and back, he lifted her from the garden pathway, and kissed her with his wide smile still on his face. Kat couldn't remember when she started smiling, but as she kissed him back, she knew she was smiling too, and she really couldn't help it, because she was happy. Foolishly, drunkenly happy.

They broke apart maybe a minute or an hour later, and Hale gently set Kat down. Something broke through through her euphoria, and she realized that she could still hear the blaring music playing in the solarium.

"Did you—did you get my family to watch over the security camera?"

Hale shook his head.

"I wasn't planning on asking until later tonight. When I realized you were out here by the Prometheus statue, alone, I saw an opportunity, and I took it."

"Like before the Henley job."

"Yeah."

"Did… Did you— "

"I didn't ask your dad or Uncle Eddie for their blessing, but that's because they explicitly told me that I had it years ago, after the Eggs of the Magi debacle. They said returning your mother's egg was worth four dozen goats, and that my debt was paid. I did ask Irina if she thought your mom would approve. She said yes."

Kat nodded, trying to fight the growing knot in her throat. For all of their quirks and vices and flaws, she loves her family.

Hale responded by pressing a kiss to her forehead and brushing back a piece of hair that had fallen into her face.

"Shall we go and face the music?"

Kat sighs. She could very easily steal Hale away from his visitors, because they are, after all, her family. But they are, and have been, his family too.

"No guts."

"No glory."

They walked, arm in arm, along the garden path with a spring in their step. The moon and the light from the house lit their way, but they were just out of sight of the door leading to the solarium when they could hear Bobby's voice above the music, asking "Did my daughter and our gracious host sneak off to their _separate bedrooms_ already?" And they knew that they could not have planned a better opening if they had tried.

They dashed forward to the open door. The family was still littered about the room. They were all conscious and present, and mostly sober, so when Kat and Hale raised their voices and said "We're right here," all eyes turned toward them.

Kat's left hand was conspicuously and purposefully placed on top of Hale's arm, so the room full of thieves could not possibly miss the massive diamond that glittered like the angled glass of the solarium walls. Kat would relish their expressions for years, and delight in their shocked silence, because she honestly hadn't seen them look so surprised since the Tower of London job.

Gabrielle was the one to break the tableau. She cursed in both French and Russian, and then sprang forward to engulf Kat into a strong hug.

"That ring is massive!" She squealed, squeezing Kat harder.

And all at once, her family was shouting and cheering again. Irina and Amelia joined Gabrielle in admiring Kat's ring, which, in the light of the chandelier, shined and glittered and Kat had to admit that it really was incredible. Meanwhile, her uncles and Simon and Angus and Hamish were congratulating Hale, slapping him on the back, shaking his hand, welcoming him _legally_ to the family.

In the mess, Kat didn't see her dad until he was beside her. He grabbed Kat's left hand, and, with an exaggerated scowl, looked at the ring. He sighed and said "I guess that's big enough for you." Kat laughed, and Bobby's scowl cracked and he hugged her, if possible, even tighter than Gabrielle had. As he held his daughter, his murmured "Nadia would have loved him, kiddo." And then it was Uncle Eddie's turn to hug Kat. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to.

And then Marcus appeared with his arms full of champagne bottles he brought up from the cellar, and pulled Hale aside to ask if he would mind if he, Marcus, called Marianne to tell her the good news. Hale, of course, agreed.

As flutes of champagne were passed around, the family offered toasts to the newly engaged couple. They toasted to their health, their wealth, and their happiness, and shared wishes for beautiful children and children with quick reflexes.

"Look at them," Gabrielle called to the room. "They're incapable of having unattractive children. They'll be cherubic."

"They'll be the greatest masterminds of their generation." Hamish proclaimed.

"There will be nothing out of their reach." Angus added.

As the room settled down and the initial excitement wore off, the evening of food and drinks caught up with them. As their eyelids began to droop, and they began to yawn, the members of Kat and Hale's eccentric family excused themselves to bed. When only a handful of people were left milling about the room, Bobby sidled up to his daughter and wrapped his arm around Kat's shoulders.

"Go on." He whispered. "Say goodnight and take your fiancé with you so I don't have to see him look at you like that anymore."

Kat found Hale, standing at the edge of the room, talking with Simon and Uncle Felix, and caught his eye. He sent her a look, the kind that she really didn't want her boyfriend, her fiancé, to share with her while in the same room with her father.

Bobby groaned.

"Please, go now."

Kat smiled brightly, and kissed Bobby quickly on the cheek. She strode towards the doorway into the main corridor, snatching Hale's arm as she passed, dragging him out of the room with her, not caring about the teases and taunts that she might expect from her family in the morning.

"Happy birthday to me." Hale half-sang as Kat dragged him up the stairs.

"You know," Kat said. "It's funny how you picked a light blue diamond for my ring."

"I like light blue. It remind me of your eyes."

At the top of the stairs, Kat stopped. She turned around and, thanks to the stairs and her heels, finds herself eye-level with Hale. .

"I know, you've said that before. I just think it's funny how your other birthday present is light blue as well. And lace— that's another one of your favorites, isn't it?"

As she watches her words settle into Hale's imagination, she slips off her heels, and spins and runs down the hall, toward Hale's bedroom at the end of the wing. She couldn't help but laugh as she heard Hale running behind her, or heard his hearty chuckle as they raced down the hall, together.


End file.
